Jack Carter

Jack Carter (1933-1971) was a Fletcher Mob enforcer. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, he later moved to London and became a gangster. In 1971, he travelled back to Newcastle to investigate the death of his brother Frank, who was said to have died in a car accident; Jack was skeptical about these claims, knowing that his brother was neither suicidal nor a drunkard. He uncovered a conspiracy by businessman Cliff Brumby, his old acquaintance Eric Paice, and the Newcastle Mob, and he managed to take revenge on all of his brother's killers before himself being killed by a hitman.

Early life
Jack Carter was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England in 1933, the brother of Frank Carter. The two had a working-class upbringing, and they became acquainted with other working-class boys such as Albert Swift and Eric Paice. Jack was troublesome, having sex with Frank's wife behind Frank's back, and even producing a daughter, Doreen, who was believed by everyone else to have been Frank's own daughter. While Frank pursued an honest living as a bartender, Jack became a criminal, finding work with the Fletcher Mob in London. Carter worked as one of their enforcers, and he became a cold, hard-edge killer for their firm along with the likes of Con McCarty and Peter the Dutchman. He was known to be remorseless and rash, even having an affair with Gerald Fletcher's girlfriend Anna and planning to escape to South America with her. However, he was always methodical and strategic, and was neither funny nor stupid.

Arrival in Newcastle
In 1971, Frank Carter died in Newcastle in what police claimed was an accidental car crash caused by drunkenness. Jack decided to leave for South America after investigating his brother's death, and Gerald and Sid Fletcher advised him against going to Newcastle and stirring up trouble with the Newcastle Mob. However, Carter decided to go alone and investigate, taking the train from London to Newcastle and staying at his brother's old apartment, run by middle-aged landlady Edna. Carter discovered that his brother had been keeping a double-barrelled shotgun above his dresser, and he equipped it, keeping it with him during his investigation. After attending his brother's funeral, he met his former co-workers Keith and Eddie, and he told Keith to inform him if anyone asked for him at his brother's old bar.

Meeting Kinnear
Carter later went to the Newcastle Racecourse seeking old acquaintance Albert Swift for information about his brother's death, but Swift spotted Carter and disappeared into the crowd. Instead, Jack encountered another old associate, Eric Paice, who was watching the race as well. Paice refused to tell Carter who was employing him as a chauffeur, piquing Carter's interest. Tailing Paice led him to the country house of crime boss Cyril Kinnear, the head of the Newcastle Mob. Jack burst in on Kinnear, who was playing poker, but learned little from him; he also met a glamorous drunken woman, Glenda, who claimed to have known the Fletcher brothers. As Carter left, Paice warned him against damaging relations between Kinnear and the Fletchers.

Escaping the henchmen
Back at his hotel room, Jack was threatened by henchmen who wanted him to leave town, with Kinnear's nervous messenger Thorpe warning him that he had to come with them so that he could depart on the London-bound train. Carter refused, and he fought off the enforcers, capturing and interrogating Thorpe to find out who wanted him gone. He was told that the businessman Cliff Brumby wanted to have him sent out off town. Carter knew Cliff Brumby as a businessman with controlling interests in local seaside amusement arcades. Carter decided to leave a captive Thorpe with Keith as he paid a visit Brumby's house at 2:00 AM that morning. As Brumby broke up his daughter's early-morning party, Carter entered Brumby's mansion, claiming to have been sent by the Fletchers. Carter discovered that the man knew nothing about him and, believing he had been set up, he left. He returned to the hotel, where Edna informed him that the men had returned to the house and taken both Thorpe and Keith, and Edna threatened to call the police on him. Carter told her that she wouldn't, as he knew that she wore purple underwear. When Edna asked what that meant, Carter asked her to think about it, and he proceeded to unclothe her and sleep with her.

Meeting Brumby
The next morning two of Jack's London colleagues - Con McCarthy and Peter the Dutchman - arrived, sent by the Fletchers to take him back. They walked in on Carter and Edna having morning sex, and a nude Carter forced them out of the house with a shotgun, walking outside and onto the steps to ensure that they left. He then had Edna pack his belongings in a car in the back, but she was stopped by McCarty. Carter proceeded to force McCarty into the outhouse as he fled in his car, leaving Edna behind as the two enforcers attempted to chase after him. Carter succeeded in escaping, and he met with his late brother's mistress Margaret on a bridge to talk about Frank. The Fletchers' men pursued him on the bridge, and he was rescued by Glenda, who took him in her sports car to meet Brumby at his new restaurant development at the top of a multi-story car park in Gateshead. Brumby identified Kinnear as being behind Frank's death, also explaining that Kinnear was trying to take over his business. He offers Jack £5,000 to kill the crime boss, which a furious Carter flatly refused, unwilling to take on Kinnear based on Brumby's unverifiable statement.

The film
Jack had sex with Glenda at her flat, where he found and watched a pornographic film where Doreen was forced to have sex with Albert Swift. The other participants in the film were Glenda and Margaret. Overcome with emotion, Jack became enraged and pushed Glenda's head under water as she took a bath in the next room. She told him the film was Kinnear's, and that she thought Doreen was "pulled" by Paice. Forcing Glenda into the trunk of her sports car, Jack drove off to find Swift.

Jack tracked Albert down at a betting shop, and Albert confessed he told Brumby that Doreen was, indeed, Frank's daughter. Brumby showed Frank the film to incite him to call the police on Kinnear, which would have removed Brumby's rival from the picture. Eric Paice and two of his men were sent to silence an enraged Frank, forcing him to drink a whole bottle of whiskey before arranging for his death in what looked to be a car crash. Information extracted, Carter fatally knifed Albert. As he returned from a boat trip at the docks, Carter was attacked by the London gangsters and Paice, who had informed Fletcher of Jack and Anna's affair. In the ensuing shootout, Jack shot Peter dead. As Eric and Con escaped, they pushed the sports car into the river with Glenda trapped inside. Returning to the car park, Jack found Brumby, beat him senseless, and threw him over the side to his death. He then sent the pornographic film to the vice squad at Scotland Yard in London.

Downfall of Kinnear
Jack abducted Margaret at gunpoint in an alleyway, and he telephoned Kinnear in the middle of a wild party, telling him he had the film and made a deal for Kinnear to give him Paice in exchange for his silence. Kinnear agreed, sending Paice to an agreed location; however, he subsequently phoned a hitman to dispose of Jack. Jack drove Margaret to the grounds of Kinnear's estate, unclothed her, and killed her with a fatal injection, and he left her body there. He then called the police to raid Kinnear's party. The next morning, the police swarmed Kinnear's estate, found the body of Margaret in a nearby pond, and arrested Kinnear for possession of pornography and for murder.

Vengeance and death
Jack found Paice waiting on the docks of North Blyth, Northumberland, and he chased him on the railroad tracks before chasing him on Blackhall Beach. Paice tripped and fell on the coal-strewn beach, and Carter forced Paice to drink a full bottle of whisky as Paice had done to Frank, then beat him to death with his shotgun. Carter placed Paice's body on the mine's conveyor system, and his body was dumped into the North Sea along with the coal spolings. As Jack walked along the shoreline, his mission donee, he was shot in the head with a sniper rifle by the Newcastle Mob's hitman, only identified as "J".